


One True Love

by literature_and_ocean_waves



Category: X-Men (Alternate Timeline Movies), X-Men (Movieverse), X-Men (Original Timeline Movies), X-Men - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Polyamory, all the polyamorous stuff came from my bff, any other poly folks who wanna give me writing pointers are welcome :), but no mpreg in this one, he is poly and queer so i asked him about stuffs, i dont think lol, i have been wanting to write this one for a while, ive got a lot of universes going on here, not part of my au, sometimes themes overlap
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-17
Updated: 2017-06-17
Packaged: 2018-11-15 02:12:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,179
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11221137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/literature_and_ocean_waves/pseuds/literature_and_ocean_waves
Summary: Raven always hated fairy tales.





	One True Love

When Raven was a little girl, she loved nothing more than to sit in her bed and listen to Charles read. 

He read her all kinds of things.   
Mysteries. Adventures. Romance. Even Horror, if she promised not to get too scared. 

But there was one kind of story that Raven did not like.   
Fairy Tales. 

Stories about helpless princesses waiting for their dashing princes to come and save them; their One True Love.   
Raven hated that phrase. 

“Why does your love only have to be one?” she asked Charles one night, cuddled under her covers. “Why does Snow White only get to marry the prince? What if she liked one of the dwarves? Or that nice woodsman?”

Charles thought about it. “I don’t know, Raven,” he said. “Maybe she just liked the prince the best?”

Raven scowled. “But that doesn’t seem fair. Why should she have to give up on all her other loves just so she can pick her favorite?”

“Hmmm. I don’t know the answer to that either,” Charles said, shutting the book. “But it is late and pretty blue princesses need their sleep.” He kissed her on the forehead in his big brother way. “So how about we put this matter away until the morning?”

Raven huffed, but agreed all the same, wishing him good night as he shut the door and returned to his own room. 

But as she settled into the warm comfort of her bed, she had a suspicion that Charles was never going to understand what it was she had meant. 

 

\-----

 

Charles met his One True Love in Florida on an April night in 1962, right after diving off a Coast Guard ship into the chilly Atlantic Ocean. 

He fished out a young man with magnetic powers, with which he had been trying to catch a submarine, and helped him aboard the boat. 

Raven watched the two of them from a few feet away, Charles chattering nonstop to this new comer as a pair of exasperated-looking soldiers dried them off with towels. 

Raven looked at the way Charles’s eyes were sparkling and the almost luminous shine in his smile and she knew. 

She knew that this was the person, for better or worse, who Charles was going to spend the rest of his life with.   
Even if he did not know it yet. 

She followed him around all the same, just as she had for the better part of fifteen years, and it took them to a secret government building in Washington, DC. 

She watched as Charles charmed the CIA into letting him and Erik go on an epic road trip adventure together to find the rest of their mutant brethren. 

And as the two of them climbed into their modest, fuel-efficient vehicle, Raven found that she could only be happy for her beloved foster brother. 

This is what he had always wanted after all, even if it was never voiced aloud.   
A handsome prince, a One True Love, to ride off with him into the sunset of happily ever after. 

As the car sped off into the distance, the warm afternoon light glinting off its shining surface, Raven knew that Charles had found just that. 

 

\------

 

For a while, Raven thought that Hank might be her One True Love.

He was a very sweet man and unquestionably brilliant; and she found his shy awkwardness to be more than a little endearing. 

A CIA complex was not exactly the best place for romance, but they made it work. 

Sitting in the mess hall and sharing a meal.   
Wandering the corridors and holding hands.   
Even just sitting in his lab sometimes and talking for hours felt like a Paris getaway. 

They talked about all kinds of things.   
Books. Music. Movies. 

But most often, they talked about mutations.   
Specifically, theirs. 

Hank told her about his childhood.   
How his weirdly large feet and slightly enhanced strength seemed like a gift at first, allowing him to play soccer with the other kids when he should have just been another weak, scrawny nerd who could scarcely kick a ball. 

But then one morning, just after his twelfth birthday, he had awoken to find that his feet were hands and that his hands were strong enough to crush stones.   
He didn’t play with the other kids after that. 

Raven felt honored that he shared the story with her. 

 

It was so freeing to have someone to talk to about this stuff.   
Charles, for all his kindness and gentle nature, never had had to hide. Not really anyway. 

As spring turned into summer and summer lazed its way towards autumn, more mutants arrived. 

Some were like Charles and Erik, their gifts hidden as invisible powers that could be called upon at will. 

But a few were like Raven and Hank.   
Their abilities something physical, something bodily. 

The more mutants to arrive, the safer Raven felt. 

For the first time in her life, she had a people.   
A community.   
A group where she had to hide absolutely nothing. 

She and Angel became especially bonded.   
Two mutant girls with visible gifts in a sea of stupid, immature boys.   
Who they still loved endlessly. 

But as Raven blossomed more and more in response to all the new people, Hank seemed more and more withdrawn by the day.   
He was silent and occasionally a little surely, locking himself in his lab. 

She was no mind reader, but she had a hunch that Hank felt that their little sanctuary had gotten too crowded.   
That the sweet, safe little world of just Hank and Raven was shattered. 

At first, Raven tried to work with him on his feelings.   
She made efforts to do things as just the two of them.   
More walks.   
More long talks in the lab.   
And it seemed to be helping. 

But then Shaw invaded, a bunch of people died, and they all had to relocate to the mansion in Westchester. 

Being in that house, with all its dust and drear and depression, was bad enough.   
Now Angel was gone, betraying them to the murderous Hellfire Club, and Charles was too wrapped up in both the honeymoon phase with Erik and his guilt from the deaths of the CIA agents. 

All of Raven’s confidants were suddenly gone and she was starting to lose patience with Hank. 

Sharing sad stories from childhood was one thing. It helped heal. 

Wanting to be like the humans who had mistreated them all their lives was another. 

“Mutant and Proud.”

 

\-------

 

Sometimes, Raven wondered if Azazel might be her One True Love. 

Their courtship started out slow and unplanned. 

The X-Men and Brotherhood had settled into comfortable agreement on their philosophies, with the X-Men taking care of the children and the Brotherhood fighting the good fight.   
The mansion was full of mutants all living under one roof and Raven found that the place seemed more like home now than it ever had while she was growing up. 

It had been Erik’s idea for Azazel to train Raven in hand-to-hand combat.   
Neither had minded; Azazel was a good fighter and Raven had recently realized that there was a lot more to fighting for a cause than pure passion. 

Azazel trained her nearly mercilessly, pushing her to her limit every day in the backyard. 

“An opponent will never, ever go easy on you, so neither can I,” he said.   
Raven found that she really appreciated the lesson. 

One evening in very early spring, after a grueling two hour boxing session, Raven took Azazel to her room and tumbled into bed with him.   
She didn’t know why she did it, only that she wanted to.   
That seemed like a good enough reason. 

They shared a silent cigarette afterwards and Raven felt Azazel’s tail wrap around her ankle.   
She wondered why she found it so comforting. 

They did not talk much, not the way she and Hank used to, but it was somehow better that way. 

Raven was learning new things about her body and her mutation all the time.   
She could heal faster, go for days without food, and boost her own immune system to ward away illness.   
But training these things took time and it took concentration. 

So the quietness of her moments with Azazel suited her just fine. 

Still. She did learn some things about him. 

Like how he had been born in Russia to a single mother and everyone assumed he was a demon.   
A penance for his mother’s wicked, sinful ways. 

Like how he had scraped together a life through mercenary work and always wore a scarf around in his face in public.   
Luckily for him, the coldness of his motherland had made this easy. 

And like how, just like her, he had no idea how old he was. But he knew it was more than he appeared.

 

Azazel gave Raven her first child. 

Just like their romance, it was unexpected, but welcomed. 

She had to stop going on Brotherhood missions for a while, but she did not mind.   
They had a whole team of highly skilled and highly trained mutants.   
They could make do without their shapeshifter. 

Raven’s son was born in the middle of the night right after a huge snow storm.   
Sean fussed that maybe it was a bad omen, but Raven thought it was beautiful, hopeful thing.   
Her son had survived the storm and brought back the moon.   
He would be a wonderful, selfless child. 

She named him Kurt, after her stepfather.   
Charles was shocked, as Marko had been an enemy of them both. 

But Raven insisted.   
“A name should not have to live in infamy just because one bastard ruined it,” she said. “I am giving it a second chance to be good again.”

And Kurt was good. 

He was warmest, softest, sweetest, most loving little boy that anyone in the house had ever encountered.   
A fuzzy little blue ball of fur and happiness. 

He toddled around on wobbly, two-toed feet.   
And when he was old enough to speak, he was vanishing in little puffs of smoke. 

Raven could barely keep up and enjoyed every instant of it.   
Motherhood treated her well. 

Azazel was an agreeable father and loved Kurt endlessly in his own deep, rumbling way.   
But while their son was never short on his parents’ affection, Raven found herself spending less and less time with Azazel. 

It wasn’t just the demands of being a mom or that she was free to go on Brotherhood missions again.   
It was, whatever they had had, seemed to have only been able to exist in that brief vacuum while she trained. 

So it was that, one day as she walked down a hallway, she found Azazel and Janos kissing.   
Up a wall.   
They either did not see her or did not care, too involved in their own affairs.   
And by the look of things, this was not an unfamiliar situation. 

But Raven found that she did not feel angry or even sad.   
Azazel seemed happy; that was good enough for her.   
She backed silently away and found another route to the class she was teaching. 

\--------

 

Raven met Irene on her son’s first birthday. 

The mansion had been having a party in the dining room.   
There were streamers, balloons, and a lovely chocolate cake that Kurt ended up getting more of in his fur than in his mouth. 

There were presents, too.   
Most from the other children in the house. Little toys that Kurt would like within the next year but was too young to really appreciate now. 

The party was in full swing when suddenly the front doorbell rang.   
Everyone stopped instantaneously, frozen in both surprise and fear. Charles said that he could sense no threat, but told the children to stay put. 

Raven went to the door, disguised as a middle aged woman in dignified attire.   
A befitting appearance for such a grandiose house. 

She opened the door and stared at the sight before her. 

A woman stood in the doorway, one perhaps around Raven’s own age.   
Her dark, chestnut hair was cut in a short bob and, despite the winter sun setting behind her, a pair of thick, black sunglasses covered her eyes.   
In her right hand was a walking stick and in her left was the hand of a tiny, little girl, no more than five years old.   
The girl was bundled up fiercely against the cold, though Raven could make out a strange white streak in her wavy, brunette tresses. 

The woman tapped her walking stick and smiled brightly, as if the most wonderful of news had been whispered in her ear. 

“Raven Darkholme,” the woman said. “It is so wonderful to meet you at last.”

 

Irene Adler was a mutant.   
With the power to see into the future.   
Yet who was also completely blind. 

She had traveled all the way from Mississippi, her beloved adopted daughter in tow, to reach the X-Mansion. 

“My interest is in serving the cause of the Brotherhood,” she said. “And I think you will find a great asset in my gift.”

She was right.   
Erik immediately jumped at the opportunity to have a member who could foresee problems with their operations.   
He put her to work right away and she discussed things with him and the rest of the team at every meeting. 

Raven at first had no idea what to make of Irene.   
Her abilities could be somewhat unsettling.   
A bit like Charles, in a way.   
Knowing what you were going to do before you did it. 

But Irene was nothing if not patient.   
She did not push Raven into becoming her friend, even as the rest of the mansion swarmed around her, eager for predictions like children at a fortune-telling tent. 

Gradually, Raven began to trust and even enjoy Irene’s company.   
Her quiet was not unlike Azazel’s, though it held its own sort of melody.   
Her presence seemed to… hum somehow.   
A soft thing that calmed Raven’s hair-trigger, warrior nerves. 

Raven was not sure exactly when she started doing it, but at some point she began to play a little game with herself.   
About Irene. 

She would walk into a room where Irene was sitting and be wearing a different form each time.   
She spoke in other people’s voices, mimicked strangers’ steps, and did everything she could to not seem herself.   
She even would change her scent, becoming fully someone else. 

But every time, Irene would look up, usually from one of her braille books, and smile. 

“Hello, Raven,” she would say. And Raven, every time, would shift back to her own form. 

“How do you do it?” she asked one day, sitting at Irene’s side. “How do you always know it’s me? Your powers?”

Irene thought about it and shook her head. “It’s not that, though my powers do give me little hints.” She put a warm, gentle hand in Raven’s open palm. “I guess I can just… feel that it is you. You are completely unique and beautiful. And no face you wear can ever hide that.”

Raven may have cried a little.   
And then kissed Irene a lot. 

 

Being with Irene was a completely new experience.   
Not just because she was a woman and Raven’s resume of lovers had only included men so far. 

With Hank it had all been so exciting and wonderful that Raven had always been on her toes.   
Wanting to prove herself a suitable companion.   
With Azazel, even if there were no rules in bed, they were still confined to their little world of fighting and teaching. 

Here there was no pressure at all. Raven and Irene glided along together as if they had been made for this.   
It was… effortless.

Irene also gave Raven her second child. 

Marie, who preferred to be called Rogue, was an orphan who Irene had taken in shortly after her parent’s deaths.   
She did not remember much of them and loved Irene as she would her birth mother.   
She called her Mom and, after a time, she called Raven Mama.   
Raven’s heart had never felt warmer than it did hearing that for the first time. 

Rogue’s powers were strange, even for a mutant.   
She could touch no one, and never be touched in return, but she did not let it darken her sweet, sunny, Southern charm.   
She and Kurt got along famously, adopting each other as siblings even before Irene and Raven got together. 

They could have become a perfect little family.   
Nuclear and tidy, even with two mothers heading the household.   
But Raven had never been able to be that uncomplicated. 

“You are not my One True Love,” Raven said to Irene. They were standing in their bedroom, the children having all been tucked in for the night. “I want… I want you to be so badly…” Tears tickled cruelly at Raven’s eyes. “You mean the absolute world to me, Irene Adler. But I can’t-“

“You can’t let go of the others who matter to you,” Irene finished for her. 

Raven nodded and Irene wrapped her arms around her. 

“Raven,” she said, kind and gentle. “Love is not a finite thing. It is not something you dig up from the ground like a stone and then when it is all gone, it is gone forever.” She kissed her cheek. “It is like sunlight, infinite and boundless, stretching out to as many people as it needs to.” She smiled. “And for you, my darling, it wants to stretch to quite a few. So why do we not let it?”

 

\-----

 

Epilogue:

 

There was a thunderstorm howling outside, but inside the mansion was safe and cozy. 

Raven lay in the enormous bed, staring drowsily up at the ceiling and listening to the pounding rain overhead. 

The house itself was quiet and sleepy, everyone snuggled into their sheets and dreaming sweetly. 

Azazel’s tail quivered on Raven’s right shin and she hummed contentedly.   
His head was nestled on the pillow next to her, close enough that their hair was touching a little. 

Janos was wedged in between the two of them, flat on his stomach and snoring just a bit.   
His legs were sprawled out all over the place and his cheek was pressed into Raven’s breast.   
He likely would have scale-shaped marks there when he woke up for breakfast.   
Just like he did every morning. 

Irene was tucked into Raven’s left side, her butt touching Raven’s hip.   
Her face was buried in Hank’s soft blue fur and he was curled around her in a vaguely bean-like shape. 

Raven smiled and reached for his clawed hand.   
Instinctively, he took it and squeezed lovingly, a happy expression pulling at his sleeping face. 

Raven wiggled down into her little nest of lovers, eyelids getting heavy again. 

As she fell back into the deep world of slumber, she thought once more to the fairy tales of her youth.   
They had been right: having a One True Love was the greatest thing in the whole world. 

Tomorrow morning, she would awake like Snow White with a kiss from her One True Love. 

All four of them. 

 

The End.


End file.
